LEAF EXPANSION, PHOTOSYNTHESIS, AND WATER RELATIONS OF SUNFLOWER PLANTS GROWN ON COMPACTED SOIL

Leaf expansion and growth response of sunflower (Helianthus annuus, L.) to soil compaction were investigated in relation to compaction effects on water relations, nitrogen nutrition, and photosynthesis. A series of field experiments were conducted with plants grown in 20 cm-diameter cylinders with soil bulk densities ranging from 1.2 to 1.7 g cm-3 at the 0-20 cm depth (equivalent to 0.8 to 2.4 MPa soil strength measured with a soil penetrometer). Relative leaf expansion rate (RLER) decreased linearly with increasing soil strength. Smaller plant size in compacted treatments was due not only to slower expansion rates, but also smaller maximum size of individual leaves. Sensitivity of leaf expansion to soil strength was best illustrated by a reduction in RLER and maximum size of the first leaf to emerge in a treatment with only the lower 10-20 cm of the profile compacted (bulk density of 1.7 g cm-3). Root growth was less affected than shoot growth by compaction and root:shoot ratios of compacted treatments were significantly higher than the control. Soil compaction had no significant effect on pre-dawn or midday leaf water potential, osmotic potential or leaf turgor. Specific leaf weight was usually higher in plants grown on compacted soil, and leaf nitrogen and photosynthesis per unit leaf area were either unaffected by treatment or significantly higher in compacted treatments. The results suggest that early growth reduction of sunflower plants grown on compacted soil was more sink- than source-limited with regard to water, nitrogen, and carbon supply. Further evaluation of this hypothesis will require verification that these whole-leaf measurements provided a sufficiently accurate approximation of treatment effects on the dynamic equilibria of expanding cells.